'Jack Reacher'

The driving force behind one action franchise with "Mission: Impossible," Tom Cruise aimed to launch another with this enjoyably tough melodrama centered around novelist Lee Child's title character, an ex-military man trying to determine whether a former Army sniper is at the heart of several Pittsburgh murders.

Rosamund Pike ("Die Another Day"), Richard Jenkins, Robert Duvall and filmmaker Werner Herzog also star for director-screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie, who won an Oscar for his script for "The Usual Suspects"and also co-wrote "Valkyrie" for Cruise. *** (PG-13: AS, P, V) (Also on Blu-ray and On Demand)